2:00 P.M.
Hoshi
Hoshi pulled the coverlet up over Saki’s sleeping form and crept from the bedroom. Miho’s missed calls burned like a red-hot coal in his pocket. Taking a deep breath, he stepped outside the front door and called her back.
“Finally!” she answered peevishly. “Where have you been? I’ve been trying to reach you all day.”
Hoshi forced himself to smile, knowing it would color his voice with better humor than he was actually feeling. “Sorry, Miho-san—I kind of overslept.”
“I need you to give me a ride to Ginza. I have to buy a new dress for an event tomorrow night and I want your opinion. How soon can you be here?”
The last thing he wanted to do was go shopping with her, but he couldn’t afford to lose another patron, no matter how much of a pain in the ass she was. Checking the time, he did a quick calculation in his head. “Miho-san, I just got up. I can’t make it over to your place in Roppongi in less than an hour. Why don’t we meet at the Mitsuyama store?”
“My car’s in the shop.”
“In the shop? Why? What happened?”
Silence.
“Miho-san? You still there?”
“Last Thursday night when you made me take a cab home from Nova it was vandalized. I fetched it the next day and it was a mess. My mechanic said it would take a week to fix the damage, and it won’t be ready until later today.”
“What kind of damage? Did someone try to break in?”
“Look,” she said, ignoring his question, “Can you be here by one?”
Hoshi agreed to come, and ended the call.
Vandalized car. He’d heard the reproach in her voice. She blamed him for not driving her home that night. Why hadn’t he noticed her car was messed up when he brought his BMW back to the lot near Club Nova at 5:00 A.M. the next morning? Had he been too exhausted from Mrs. Ono’s party and Coco’s accident and Saki’s miscarriage scare to notice?
He stopped in his tracks. The reason he hadn’t noticed Miho’s car was because it hadn’t been there.
Chapter 71
Wednesday, November 20
5:00 P.M.
Yumi
Yumi spotted Hoshi at a corner table, upstairs at the Excelsior Café. He wasn’t draped in silver jewelry and his shirt wasn’t unbuttoned halfway down his chest, but there was still no mistaking him for anything but a host. She hoped Ichiro’s friends shunned chain restaurants when they came to Ginza to exercise their charge cards. What was so important that Hoshi had felt they needed to talk about it face to face?
“Thanks for coming,” he said. As she pulled out the other chair and set down her coffee, he blurted, “I’m afraid we sent Detective Nakamura after the wrong guy.”
“What?”
“This afternoon I figured out who really pushed Cherry, and it wasn’t Matsuda.”
Yumi stared at him.
“I knew something strange was going on,” he said, the words tumbling out. “Losing three of my best customers in one week was more than bad luck, especially when they were all on my short list of investors. Cherry’s dead, Coco’s not speaking to me, and Mrs. Ono will never show her face at Nova again.”
“Why? Do you think someone’s trying to destroy you by targeting your customers?”
“She doesn’t want to destroy me—she wants to own me.”
“She?”
“Miho Yamaguchi.”
“Miho Yamaguchi?”
“I know. It sounds crazy. But after she got dumped so publicly last year by that fiancé of hers, she started coming to the club all the time. From the very beginning, if one of my customers called for a bottle of Dom Pink, she’d order a bottle of Gold. If Coco bought me a nice hat, she’d buy me a diamond earring. Then she offered to sell me her old BMW really cheap when she bought a new one. At first I thought it was great. I began to count on her to keep me in the top five. I didn’t realize that once she got her hooks in me, she’d just want more.”
He told her how the fake alibi Miho had given the police had bound him to her with the twin shackles of obligation and threat of exposure. Then she’d eliminated Mrs. Ono—the only rival who could outspend her—by whispering a damning rumor in the manager’s ear.
“When Miho found out I’d asked Coco to be my partner in the club I want to start, she tried to pressure me into taking money from her instead, but I turned her down. That night Coco was almost hit by a car.”
“You think Miho Yamaguchi…?”
“I know it. Today she called and demanded I pick her up to take her shopping. She said her car’s in the shop because it was vandalized while parked near the club the night Coco was nearly hit. But I know she’s lying. It wasn’t in the lot when I brought mine back early the next morning. I sent Miho home in a cab, but she must have returned to fetch her car, followed us, then used it to try and run over Coco.”
“That’s horrible! Did you tell the police?”
“Like they’d listen?”
“You’re right.” She could just imagine how eager Kenji would be for another tip from Yumi and Hoshi after he found out that Matsuda was a big, fat, wild goose chase.
“We’ll have to find something that proves she killed Cherry.” Yumi sipped her coffee. “Tell me exactly that happened that night.”
Hoshi sat back in his chair. “Miho and Cherry were both at the club. I saved Cherry for last because she was upset and I didn’t want to get called away from her table. I sat with Miho until about ten minutes to closing. She wanted me to take her home but I put her off. She refused to leave when I offered to walk her down and call a cab, so I left her with Taiyo and took care of Cherry and Shinya.”
“Did she see you walk out with Cherry?”
“Yeah. I came back in to get Shinya, and when she saw me put on my coat, she settled her tab and came out right behind us. She must have seen Cherry sitting in my car.”
“Did she follow you?”
“I don’t know. If she did, she shouldn’t have been driving. I’m careful not to get drunk when I’m working, but she’d been pounding down the brandy all night. I have to admit, though, I wasn’t thinking about her at all. I was worrying about getting to the club dorm as quickly as possible so Shinya didn’t leave his lunch in my backseat.”
“So let’s say she followed you to Shinya’s place, then waited outside until you came back out and took Cherry home. Let’s say she saw you go up to Cherry’s apartment with her. How long were you inside?”
“Maybe…twenty minutes?”
Long enough to fan her jealousy.
“You didn’t see her car parked nearby?”
“I was too worried about Saki and the baby to notice.”
“Do you think Miho might have gone up and banged on Cherry’s door after you left?”
“Did someone hear her?”
“No, but around two thirty, her next-door neighbor heard two people arguing outside her apartment. A woman apparently screamed ‘hoshi uranai’ right before the neighbor slammed her window shut.”
Hoshi rocked back in his chair, outraged. “‘Hoshi wo uranai?’ As if she owned me?”
“What?” Then it all made sense: The neighbor hadn’t heard “hoshi uranai,” she’d heard “Hoshi wo uranai”—“I will not sell Hoshi.”
Hoshi’s beautiful face had been the source of all the ugliness.
“You’re right,” Yumi said. “Matsuda didn’t do it. Miho and Cherry were fighting over you.”
Chapter 72
Thursday, November 21
12:00 A.M.
Kenji
Inspector Mori refused to accept premature congratulations from his team, superstitiously unwilling to celebrate until everything was signed and sealed, but his smug expression suggested he was already crafting the gracious words he’d use when accepting his promotion. After hours and hours of interrogation, they’d taken a break so Kita could meet with a high-powered defense lawyer. Afterward, he had finally confessed.
Released for the
night, Kenji returned to his desk in the nearly deserted squad room. Matsuda had been released and Kita had taken his place in the cell downstairs while paperwork was being prepared to bring him before the prosecutor. Kenji wondered how lonely that gloomy old house in Yoyogi-Uehara would be without the retainer who’d served Matsuda his whole life. What would he do without Kita to finish his sentences for him?
Kenji loosened his tie and unbuttoned his collar. All the Komagome personnel had been sent home except Suzuki. As the most junior squad member, the assistant detective been assigned to stay and see to the elite squad’s food and tea needs. He stood at his desk, packing up the dirty ramen bowls to return to the take-out shop the next day. Nodding to him, Kenji crossed to the squad room printer. He gathered up the notes he’d taken, stapling extra copies for Mori to pass on to Superintendent Noguchi.
Kenji frowned, wishing all the loose ends had been tied up. Kita was guilty of carving kanji on all three victims, but he hadn’t killed Cherry. After she fled Yoyogi-Uehara that night, Kita had been busy answering questions at the police box until 2:15 A.M. He couldn’t have driven to Komagome in time to push her down the stairs before 3:00.
But Kenji had run out of suspects. Matsuda had been knocked out with sleeping pills that night, Zoro had been in an interrogation room at Shinjuku Station, and Hoshi had been at Nakano General Hospital. It looked like he might never find out who was responsible for Cherry’s death.
His phone rang. Who was calling him at nearly midnight? Digging it from his pocket, he checked the caller ID.
Yumi?
Chapter 73
Thursday, November 21
12:30 A.M.
Yumi
“Another bottle of Richard!” Hoshi called to the bartender, pouring the last drops into Yumi’s glass.
“Yosh’!” cheered the staff, congratulating Hoshi and his extravagant customer on the utter decadence of ordering two bottles in one night. The waiter whisked away their empty decanter and delivered a fresh one.
Hoshi drew a small package from his pocket and presented it to Yumi.
A rhinestone-encrusted teddy bear cell-phone ornament?
She thanked Hoshi as though it was just what she’d always wanted, then understood what he was doing when he pulled out his phone and showed her his matching bear. Nothing said “commitment” like twin phone ornaments.
Across the room, Miho Yamaguchi’s eyes narrowed. She grabbed her drink and drained it. Shinya refilled her glass, but she ignored his attempts at conversation, her attention riveted on her rival across the room.
Yumi sipped the oolong tea Hoshi had filled the brandy bottle with, glad that she wouldn’t have to pay for tonight with a hangover tomorrow. She hoped the evening wouldn’t cost her the shaky truce she’d forged with Ichiro, either. She’d called him the day after she’d walked out on him at the Satellite of Love and they’d settled their differences. They’d resumed their social engagements as a couple, but their bruised relationship was taking time to heal. If Ichiro found out Yumi was not only continuing to go to Club Nova, but was actually making a spectacle of herself helping Kenji arrest a woman from the Mitsuyamas’ inner circle, their relationship would be broken beyond repair.
What if Miho didn’t do anything to get herself arrested tonight, even though they were doing their best to lay an irresistible trap? If she weren’t in jail tomorrow, silenced by the fact that anything she said about Yumi would require admitting her own criminal behavior, she’d certainly take her revenge by whispering about tonight’s activities in all the wrong ears.
And she’d have plenty to work with: Hoshi had been glued to Yumi’s side all evening except for a brief excursion to Miho’s table an insulting forty-five minutes after she’d arrived.
Yumi gazed into Hoshi’s eyes with what she hoped would pass for adoration. She tried to look enraptured when he bent down to give her a lingering tobacco-scented kiss on the cheek. He shrugged her closer and she made herself rest her head on his shoulder.
“I think it’s working,” Hoshi murmured in her ear. “If looks could kill, Nakamura-san could arrest her for murder right now.”
Yumi gave him a besotted smile and said, “Excuse me, but all this tea…”
“Got it. Remember how much you’ve supposedly been drinking.” Hoshi helped her up and she leaned on him like she’d just downed a skinful of brandy as he walked her to the ladies’ room.
Someone entered the restroom as Yumi latched the stall. When she emerged, she discovered that the red Manolo Blahniks waiting for the toilet belonged to Miho Yamaguchi. Miho’s needs, however, didn’t appear urgent. She was leaning against the sink, drink in hand, cheeks flushed.
“You look so familiar,” she mused. “Have we met somewhere?”
Yumi gave her a noncommittal smile and gestured toward the sink. “May I?”
“Oh. Of course.” Miho stood aside.
As Yumi washed her hands, Miho said, “You’re new, aren’t you? At Nova, I mean.”
“Yes, but I think I’m going to be coming a lot, now that I’ve met Hoshi.”
“Hoshi?” Miho gave a contemptuous laugh. “He’s charming, but he has so many patrons. I hope you haven’t designated him your shimeisha yet…?”
“No, but…”
“Tonight you got lucky because he’s not busy, but once he gets you to commit, he’ll barely give you the time of day. Shop around a little before you decide. Trust me,” she said in a confidential tone. “You’d be much better off with Shinya or Taiyo.”
Yumi leaned toward the mirror to repair her lipstick. “Oh, I don’t know—I have a feeling Hoshi’ll make time for me.” She smiled at herself seductively and her eyes met Miho’s in the mirror. “Is it true he doesn’t usually go out after work?”
“He never takes anyone out after work. Well, sometimes he gives me a ride home, but…”
Yumi clapped her hands in glee. “Then it is special he offered to take me to a place he knows after Nova closes!”
Miho’s face hardened. She tipped the rest of her brandy down the front of Yumi’s dress.
Yumi shrieked.
“Oh. Sorry. The glasses here are so slippery.” Miho grabbed some paper towels and scrubbed at the spreading stain, then shook her head. “I’m afraid you’ll have to take it to the cleaner. Here,” she said, pulling a ¥5,000 note from her wallet. “Please. Let me pay for the damage. Sorry I’ve ruined your plans for the evening.” She paused. “And do think about what I said. Regarding Hoshi.”
She turned to leave, but paused with her hand on the doorknob.
“By the way, I remembered where we met—it’s just that you look so different when you’re not wearing a kimono.” Without a backward glance, she returned to the club.
Yumi slumped against the sink. If she’d had any illusions that Miho hadn’t guessed who she was, they were gone. On the other hand, she was sure Miho was about to take the bait. Yumi looked in the mirror, wondering if the brandy stain would ever come out of her borrowed dress. Coco was going to kill her. She pulled the silk away, but it clung to her skin again as soon as she let go. Ick. If she weren’t on a mission, she’d have called it a night, just as Miho intended.
Time to call Kenji.
“Moshi-moshi,” he answered. “Yumi…?”
She explained what she and Hoshi were doing, but before she even got to the part where Miho doused her in expensive spirits, Kenji interrupted her, furious.
“What are you thinking? That’s the craziest plan I ever heard. Stop it! Walk out of there right now!”
“It’s too late. If I don’t follow through and catch her doing something you can arrest her for tonight, she’ll be on the phone to the Mitsuyamas tomorrow. She’ll ruin my life and get away with murder.”
“I don’t think you realize how dangerous this is. If by some remote chance Hoshi’s right, she’s the kind of woman who sees an opportunity and takes it without hesitating. Cherry’s dead and Coco would have been if Miho had been a better driver. I can’
t allow you to do this.”
“It’s not your decision. I’m going back into the club now, then Hoshi and I will walk to a love hotel, hoping she comes after us. I’ll call you when I know which one.”
“Yumi, listen to me, this is—”
She switched off her phone and rejoined Hoshi, hanging on his arm as they reentered the throbbing club.
Chapter 74
Thursday, November 21
1:00 A.M.
Kenji
“Goddamit!” Kenji grabbed his jacket. “Suzuki, we’ve got an emergency. I need backup.”
“Yes sir,” he said, abandoning the dirty ramen bowls and scooping his phone into his jacket pocket. “Should we…?” He nodded toward the room where Mori and his team were still closeted.
“No time,” Kenji said, sprinting for the elevator.
Five minutes later they dropped into seats on a Shinjuku-bound train, breathing hard, and Kenji filled his kohai in on Yumi’s accusations against Miho Yamaguchi. The doors opened at Shinjuku Station. They ran for the stairs.
Kenji’s phone vibrated. Yumi.
“Where are you?” he asked, beeping his train pass through the turnstile.
“Headed to the Hotel Marquis, across from the Fleur de Lys. Miho-san is right behind us, about half a block back.”
“Yu-chan, look, you’ve convinced me. Hoshi’s no longer a suspect. Go home. Tomorrow I’ll try to talk my boss into investigating Miho Yamaguchi.”
“Try?”
“Cherry’s case is still officially an accident. I need—”
“You need evidence, and that’s what we’re going to get. Hoshi and I are in so deep right now that if we can’t put Miho Yamaguchi away, she’s going to bury us both.” She hung up.
“Fuck!” He took the stairs two at a time and called her back. “We’re outside the east exit. Where’s the Hotel Marquis from here?”
Yumi told him.
“Can you stall for fifteen minutes to give my partner and me a chance to get a room and leave the key for you? We’ll hide and be there to witness anything she says. I’ll text you the room number when I have it.”
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